Respiratory rate (RR) is an important vital sign that is useful for examining periods of distress. High and low respiratory rates are often symptoms of serious diseases including heart failure (Cheyne-Stokes breathing), obstructive sleep apnea (cessation of breathing), and metabolic acidosis (hyperventilation). The accurate measurement of respiratory rates using non-intrusive sensors enables the continuous monitoring of a person's respiratory rate.
Conventional methods of measuring a person's respiratory rate include measuring each breath when the person is at rest over a predetermined time period by counting how many times the person's chest rises. Devices such as stethoscopes are often utilized by doctors to assist as well. However, these conventional methods are inefficient, intrusive, and require time consuming analysis to measure the respiratory rate. Therefore, there is a strong need for a cost-effective solution that overcomes the above issue by utilizing a combination of sensors and signals to measure RR thereby providing increased accuracy over the measurement of RR using any single sensor/signal. The present invention addresses such a need.